Looks like a pretty solid deck, except the Tracking, which I don't get.
Thundra Rhino, Rat Pack and Infested Wolf and Nesting Roc aren't really 'the usual hunter stuff' right? They're not exactly staples. Would you consider:
I see them in every deck, at least in my experience :)
The thing about this deck is that you run out of cards by turn 5-6, so you really want to increase your chances to draw tiger/highmane. You could cut one copy of tracking and one copy of bow if you want to make room for grandmother I guess, but I don't like it as much
Why run tiger when you can run bittertide hydra or nesting roc?
Mainly because of stealth.
Hydra might work, but in some matchups it was too dangerous to drop or it was removed right away, and I didn't want to run a card that I can sometimes play sometimes not.
Roc is pretty good, and it's health is high enough that it usually lives, but after testing I felt like tiger was slightly better in terms of being aggressive.
At the end of the day though, this is just my "personal flavour" midrange list. Other midrange lists with roc have reached legend/been played in tournaments already and are probably better.
This looks like a pretty decent deck, although I would suggest running Deadly Shots instead of Hunter's Marks. I recently made the switch myself and haven't looked back. The extra 2 mana cost is worth it when you can take out something with divine shield and taunt like Tol'vir Stoneshaper or Tirion Fordring. Also not having to trade in one of your minions is good.
I agree with the Kindly Grandmother love, although it is a bit better in a deck that runs Tundra Rhino. I have found myself coining it out on turn one and following it up with a Crackling Razormaw on turn two pretty often. If you're sold on Tracking you might consider -1Fiery Bat, -1 Tracking for 2 Kindly Grandmother. I personally don't run Tracking as I do not like the idea of ditching two possibly key cards from my deck to draw one that fits my current scenario. Maybe as a last ditch effort looking for a specific card like Kill Command for lethal? However, running two means you are effectively cutting out 4 cards from your deck. So you may think to yourself, does the power to choose one of three cards have more value than having to discard 2 from your deck?
If blizz ever changed it to discover a card from your deck, I'd be singing a much different tune.
The thing is, I'm currently running 6 one drops for consistency. Thanks to tracking, I can get rid of some of them late game (apart from drawing of course).
Tracking is one of the best cards in hunter in my opinion, discover an answer and thin your deck just for one mana, and big disadvantages (aka having to choose between highmane/highmane/tiger) don't occur often.
I'll try subbing hunter's mark for deadly shot and see if it works, as I'm kinda stuck atm and only queue into quest warrior, so I appreciate the suggestion.
Are you using Tracking late game only? I've found it can really throw off your curve if used too early. Early game you're really only discarding two cards from your deck to draw a card you would have drawn within the next three turns anyway, possibly even the very next turn. I can understand this as an answer seeker late game, but two copies are overkill imo.
It really depends on what I'm playing against and what my hand looks like.
Against aggro, I normally use it early game (normally filling the curve as well) looking for a specific answer.
Against control/midrange, I use it from turns 4 to 7. I only run two 4 drops (houndmasters), so if I don't have them in 4 I would play a tracking and a 3 cost card, normally looking for a stranglethorn tiger/highmane.
If I need to win right away because I can't sustain the match for much longer, I look for kill command/crackling razormaw.
Second tracking is not only useful because of extra card draw/deck thinning, but also because of consistency. If I'm against control and I can't find tiger, highmane or a tracking to find them on curve, my chances of winning become way worse.
I've also thought of having more late game threats and replace tracking with them, but then I feel I can't find hunter's mark/deadly shot consistently enough when I need it. And if I don't find it, my minions get cleared, and we all know hunters have problems sometimes getting back into the board. The solution is probably running more sticky minions like grandmother and rat pack, but I think I'm okay balancing things out this way right now, for better or for worse.
On another note, if you're interested in card draw and happen to be running into a lot of mage/pallies you might consider dropping one Tracking for a Flare. Ideally you would use it after you attack with Stranglethorn Tiger.
I've had success so far with this deck, so I figured I could share it for various reasons:
1. Shameless self promotion
2. It's cheap and consistent, so it can help people rank up without much trouble
3. Showing you don't have to run the usual hunter stuff to be effective (Kindly Grandmother, Infested Wolf, Rat Pack, Tundra Rhino, and nowadays Nesting Roc because of all those others).
Looks like a pretty solid deck, except the Tracking, which I don't get.
Thundra Rhino, Rat Pack and Infested Wolf and Nesting Roc aren't really 'the usual hunter stuff' right? They're not exactly staples. Would you consider:
- Tracking (2x)
+ Kindly Grandmother? (2x)
I see them in every deck, at least in my experience :)
The thing about this deck is that you run out of cards by turn 5-6, so you really want to increase your chances to draw tiger/highmane. You could cut one copy of tracking and one copy of bow if you want to make room for grandmother I guess, but I don't like it as much
Why run tiger when you can run bittertide hydra or nesting roc?
x2 tracking in midrange? x1 is enough.
And Kindly Grandmother is really good.
One day this game will stop existing. I can't wait.
I like your deck, wouldn't play 2x tracking myself, but seems like a nice deck.
This looks like a pretty decent deck, although I would suggest running Deadly Shots instead of Hunter's Marks. I recently made the switch myself and haven't looked back. The extra 2 mana cost is worth it when you can take out something with divine shield and taunt like Tol'vir Stoneshaper or Tirion Fordring. Also not having to trade in one of your minions is good.
I agree with the Kindly Grandmother love, although it is a bit better in a deck that runs Tundra Rhino. I have found myself coining it out on turn one and following it up with a Crackling Razormaw on turn two pretty often. If you're sold on Tracking you might consider -1Fiery Bat, -1 Tracking for 2 Kindly Grandmother. I personally don't run Tracking as I do not like the idea of ditching two possibly key cards from my deck to draw one that fits my current scenario. Maybe as a last ditch effort looking for a specific card like Kill Command for lethal? However, running two means you are effectively cutting out 4 cards from your deck. So you may think to yourself, does the power to choose one of three cards have more value than having to discard 2 from your deck?
If blizz ever changed it to discover a card from your deck, I'd be singing a much different tune.
The thing is, I'm currently running 6 one drops for consistency. Thanks to tracking, I can get rid of some of them late game (apart from drawing of course).
Tracking is one of the best cards in hunter in my opinion, discover an answer and thin your deck just for one mana, and big disadvantages (aka having to choose between highmane/highmane/tiger) don't occur often.
I'll try subbing hunter's mark for deadly shot and see if it works, as I'm kinda stuck atm and only queue into quest warrior, so I appreciate the suggestion.
Are you using Tracking late game only? I've found it can really throw off your curve if used too early. Early game you're really only discarding two cards from your deck to draw a card you would have drawn within the next three turns anyway, possibly even the very next turn. I can understand this as an answer seeker late game, but two copies are overkill imo.
It really depends on what I'm playing against and what my hand looks like.
Against aggro, I normally use it early game (normally filling the curve as well) looking for a specific answer.
Against control/midrange, I use it from turns 4 to 7. I only run two 4 drops (houndmasters), so if I don't have them in 4 I would play a tracking and a 3 cost card, normally looking for a stranglethorn tiger/highmane.
If I need to win right away because I can't sustain the match for much longer, I look for kill command/crackling razormaw.
Second tracking is not only useful because of extra card draw/deck thinning, but also because of consistency. If I'm against control and I can't find tiger, highmane or a tracking to find them on curve, my chances of winning become way worse.
I've also thought of having more late game threats and replace tracking with them, but then I feel I can't find hunter's mark/deadly shot consistently enough when I need it. And if I don't find it, my minions get cleared, and we all know hunters have problems sometimes getting back into the board. The solution is probably running more sticky minions like grandmother and rat pack, but I think I'm okay balancing things out this way right now, for better or for worse.
On another note, if you're interested in card draw and happen to be running into a lot of mage/pallies you might consider dropping one Tracking for a Flare. Ideally you would use it after you attack with Stranglethorn Tiger.